Master's Program

Master's in Mental Health Counseling

Program Requirements

(Formerly Community Counseling)

The 60-credit Master's of Science program in Mental Health Counseling is designed to prepare counselors to assume the full range of professional responsibilities required to function in a wide array of community human service agencies and organizations, including psychiatric and substance abuse settings. Our training model, which integrates behavioral science theories with practitioner skills, is based on the assumption that the effective counselor has a strong understanding of the theoretical and scientific bases of professional concepts and techniques.

Two other assumptions underlie the program. The first assumption is that counselors are involved in facilitating positive interactions between individuals and their environments. For this reason, counselors work within a variety of client "systems" such as families, peer groups, job settings, educational settings, and any other significant interpersonal or organizational contexts. Contemporary counseling is not solely based on one-to-one counseling relationships but also involves the use of group methods, consulting relationships, community resources, and training. Counselors are prepared to intervene effectively in these contexts using skills and perspectives derived from various theoretical orientations.

The second major assumption is that one of the counselor's primary goals is to facilitate human growth and development. The goal of enhancing development is applicable to all human beings. As such, our training program focuses on the developing skills and knowledge for educational and preventive roles as well as for the more traditional remedial or therapeutic roles. In addition, our program's commitment to human diversity is manifested in coursework as well as fieldwork placements. A dedication to facilitating development in a culturally sensitive fashion underlies our training philosophy.

Given these program goals and assumptions, the curriculum must include both comprehensiveness and depth. To these ends, admission requirements include 15 credit hours of psychology including statistics, abnormal psychology, and personality. The full-time program curriculum includes a research/assessment sequence, an intervention theory/techniques sequence, a fieldwork sequence, and electives.